This Is the Life
by ag36rac3r
Summary: Chandler was 21 years old and desperate for money, what will he do to get it?
1. Chapter 1

Ok before you even read this, here's my warning. This fic is about drugs and drug use. The characters aren't anything like they are on the show, so don't expect them to be. This is set in the present day, but the characters are all in the early 20's. I'm expecting to put all the characters in this, as well as my own characters, but for now it's just Chandler and Joey, the others will show up soon though. Let me know what you guys think, I was kinda hesitant in putting this up, but I got this idea and wanted to write this. So please R&R. Thanks.

XXXXXXXXXX

Chandler exited to elevator and walked down the dimly lit hallway towards his apartment. It wasn't much, but it was all he could afford at the moment. Hopefully, soon, that would all change though. He had met this guy at a nightclub earlier, and this guy was loaded. He had more money that you could imagine. That's what was alluring about him. He wanted that too. He wanted money. He wanted to get out of the shitty apartment that he was currently living in. So he asked the guy how he was doing it. How was he able to make _that _much money? The answer was simple the guy said, drugs. He made all that money selling drugs. It was crazy; he couldn't sell drugs…could he? That's when he made the decision; he wanted to talk to his roommate Joey about it. He got the guys number, not even knowing his name, and told him that he would call him. Now here he was standing outside his apartment contemplating how he was going to bring this up to Joey. It was crazy wasn't it? He was 21 years old, working at a dinner down the street as a cook. He wasn't doing anything with his life at this point. He still hadn't decided _what _he wanted to do. Yeah, he was young, but he felt like he was running out of time, and quickly too. He had opted to not go to college, which now he was starting to regret. He was barely making it by as it was, and his Joey wasn't much help, he was a struggling actor, so he was barely making any money either. Chandler hadn't even ever tried drugs before, other than a little pot back in high school. So what on earth made him think that he could actually _sell_ it? He shook the thoughts out of his mind and turned the doorknob and entered his apartment. He shut the door and locked it and turned around to see Joey sitting on the couch.

"Hey man, what's up? Where you been?"

"Hey, ah, I was just at this club down the street." Chandler replied.

"Oh, ok." Came Joey's response…he wasn't much of a talker sometimes, especially when the TV was on.

"Hey Joe, I wanted to talk to you about something, if you got a minute."

"Alright, what's up?" He grabbed the remote and hit mute and turned to face Chandler.

"Well, first of all, just hear me out before you say anything alright?"

"Ok, you got it." Joey was a little worried after hearing that, but this was his best friend he was talking about. It couldn't be that bad, right?

"Ok, well tonight, at the club, there was this guy there. I mean this guy had more money than I've ever seen. He was in the V.I.P. area, surrounded by girls. He was buying everyone drinks left and right. So I got interested I wanted to know how this guy did it, right? So I was able to get up to him and talk to him, and when I did I asked him, straight up, how he did it. He told me by selling drugs. That's all he did, was sell _drugs_ and he was making _that _much money. Now I know what you're thinking. That it's crazy. That we can't sell drugs, we don't even do drugs, _but_ this is the thing. He told me he didn't do drugs either. He actually _told _me that he had _never_ done drugs. It's crazy right? So look I got his number, and I told him that I would call him…" Chandler was looking down at his hands trying not to look at Joey, but needing to know his reaction. Finally he looked up and Joey was staring at him, his mouth wide, not saying anything.

"Look Joe, I know that it's crazy, but I can't take this shit anymore. Look at this apartment." He said opening his arms to the small apartment that they called home. It was practically a dump, but it was all they could afford at the moment. It only had one bedroom, which was Chandler's, since he had lived there first. Joey had moved in after they met each other at the diner. They had a small bathroom, and a living room, and their kitchen consisted of a refrigerator, and oven, and one small area of counter space. It was nothing. They couldn't afford much furniture, so all they had was a couch that had come from Joey, at his old place, and a TV. That was it.

"I mean we have no money, we're barely making it as it is. Look at it this way, I figure, we do this for a little bit, just until we get up enough money to get a better place, and then we can stop. It won't take long; we do this and save up all the money. We could be set, Joey. C'mon just think about it."

"Chandler," Joey finally spoke up. "Listen to yourself. This _is_ crazy. We don't know how to sell drugs, are you crazy? We could go to jail for doing something like this. It happens all the time. Plus who the hell do you suppose we're gonna sell to? We don't' even know anyone that _does _drugs. You've come up with some crazy ideas before man, but this…this is just _insane!_ We can't do this."

"I knew that you were gonna say that, but to tell you the truth, I think I've already made up my mind. I think I'm gonna do it anyway, with or without you man. I mean, I just can't take this shit anymore, I can't. Yeah, I understandthat there are risks, but as long as I'm careful, I think I can do this. I'm gonna call him, and I'm gonna show you, that it can be done. If you decided later that you wanna join me, that I'll be more than willing to let you." Chandler rose up off the couch and walked over towards his bedroom. He decided that tomorrow was going to be the day. He would call the guy, whatever the hell his name was, and tell him he wanted in on this. At this point he felt he had nothing to lose.

XXXXXXXXXX

Chandler rolled over and hit the alarm clock stopping the shrill sound that had woke him up. He hated that noise. He opened his eyes just enough to see the red numbers staring at him, 9:00. He groaned, and pushed the covers off his body and sat up on the edge of his bed. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and tried to will himself awake. Then all the thoughts from the previous night flooded his mind and he smiled. Today was the day, he was going to do it, he had to, and the pro's far outweighed the cons in his mind. With that thought he pushed himself off the bed and exited his bedroom to go get a shower.

He held the white card in his hand and looked down at the numbers. This was it, he didn't know what was gonna happen, but there was nothing he could do but try, right? He picked up the phone and dialed the numbers and sat back on the couch waiting for the answer.

"Hello." He heard from the other end.

"Uh, h…hey. Um, I don't know if you remember me, but I was at the club last night, and you gave me your card. I'm Chandler."

"Ah yeah I remember you, the kid that was asking me how I made all my money?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Ok, so what's up, you wanna buy something, or what?"

"No, actually, I wanted to get in on the business…you know doing what you do…" Chandler said.

"Oh, I see you." He was met with a slight laugh. "You sure about that kid? Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"I thought about it, and I need money, and to tell ya the truth, I feel like I really don't have shit to lose, so why not." Chandler replied gaining a little more confidence, he didn't want to sound scared and let this guy laugh in his face again.

"Ok well, before I let you just start working for me, you're gonna have to prove that you can do it, alright? Come down to the club, the same one from last night, I own it, be there in an hour. Oh, and I'm Dante by the way." With that he heard a click and a dial tone. Chandler hung up the phone relieved. 'That wasn't so bad' he thought. Ok so now all he had to do was prove to this guy that he could do this. He wondered what he was gonna have to do. He didn't get much of a chance to think, before Joey walked through the front door.

"Hey man." Joey said.

"Hey Joe."

"So what's up? Are you not going to work today or what?" Joey asked grabbing a beer outta the fridge before walking over and taking a seat next to Chandler.

"No actually I called in; I got something else that I have to go do."

"Your not talking about that shit you were talking about last night are you?"

"Actually, I am. As a matter of fact I just got of the phone with the guy. Evidently his name is Dante, and that club I told you I was at last night? Yeah he _owns_ it Joey. It's his. I'm really not backing out of this now. He wants me down there in an hour, he says I have to _prove_ myself though, how I don't know, but I'll be finding out shortly." Chandler rose up off the couch and went and grabbed a beer for himself before walking to his room to get changed.

"You're fucking crazy you know that?" Joey yelled from the living room.

XXXXXXXXXX

Chandler walked through the front door of the nightclub, Club Blue was the name, he figured he'd have to remember that just incase this ended up working out. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to go, but he didn't have to wonder for too long as he saw Dante walking towards him.

"Chandler." Dante said extending his hand, which Chandler took.

"Hey."

"Well follow me to my office, where we can sit down and chat." Chandler followed him through a door in the back which led to a long hallway, and finally into a rather large office. They sat down, and Dante spoke up.

"So give me a reason why I should trust you?"

"What do you mean? I mean I know we don't know each other or anything, but I can assure you that I'm not a cop or anything." Chandler replied.

Dante laughed. "You know that, that's _exactly_ what a cop would say right?"

"Yeah, I know, I don't know how to prove to you that I'm not one though." Chandler said nervously, now worried that this guy wasn't going to trust him.

"Well, lucky for you, based you your look, you don't look like a cop, you look like a kid that needs some money, and I wanna help you out. So I'm going to trust you, but just be aware that if you fuck with me, you _will _regret it, and that's a promise." Dante said.

"Ok, no problem, I want to do this, and I'm going to try my best to not fuck it up."

"Ok, good. Too start with, I'm going to give you something simple and then we'll build you up from there, just like with anything else you can't start at the top. You gotta work your way up. I'm gonna start you out selling weed for me. I know that you probably don't know many if any people to sell too, I'll give you some clients and then from them you'll start meeting your own and you won't need my help with that anymore. Now I'm gonna give you an ounce and I'm gonna front it to you. That means that you have to make all the money back from it, plus some so that you can make a profit. I'm going to charge you $100, which is your discount since you work for me. So your job is to make more than that, you give me my $100 back and then whatever else you make is yours to keep…got it?" Dante asked.

"Yeah I think so. I've never done this before though so…" Chandler trailed off.

"Well, I'm going to tell you as much as I can, but you'll learn these things over time. That's why I'm starting you out small so that you can learn these things."

Chandler was really nervous after hearing all of this. What was he getting himself into? Before he got here he was all excited and just _knew_ that he could do this, but now he was becoming more and more afraid about what he was getting into. He needed and wanted money though, and maybe Dante was right, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, maybe he could learn how to do this and it was be alright. He and Dante finished their conversation and Chandler walked out ready to get started. Dante had supplied him with a scale telling him he would need that to weigh out the weed he was selling. He also explained to him how that process worked. Chandler was always good at math though, so he caught onto that part pretty quickly. It all involved grams and ounces which wasn't too difficult. He was also given his supply of weed, an ounce, which to Chandler was probably the most marijuana he had ever seen in his life. Dante also gave him a cell phone, which was all paid for, by Dante of course, and was to be used for his business. Dante had told him to keep the cell on and by him at all times, because he would have people calling him when they needed something. For now Chandler decided to head back to his apartment and wait for the phone to ring.

When he walked through the door Joey was there of course, sitting on the couch, watching TV, with a beer, just like he had left him.

"Hey," Joey said immediately sitting up on the couch. "How did it go?"

"Well pretty good, he gave me weed and I'm gonna sell it." Chandler replied.

"This is fucking crazy man; I can't believe you are actually doing this. Have you even ever _smoked _weed?" Joey asked, worried about what his friend was getting himself into.

"Actually, yes I have, a few times in high school. That doesn't matter though, like I told you Dante himself told me that he had never even _tried_ drugs, yet he sells them and _look_ at him. He's doing pretty damn well for himself. You're gonna see Joey." Chandler walked over and sat down on the couch. He emptied out his pockets and spread everything out on the table.

"Wow what the hell is all of this?" Joey asked looking over everything.

"This is everything that I'll need to do that. Dante gave me all of it; I didn't have to pay for a thing. The only thing I have to pay him back for is the weed that he fronted me, but whatever else that I make is mine, I get to keep it. He gives me the shit for really cheap, and then I sell it for more money, therefore making back Dante's money _plus_ some." Chandler said.

"Oh, so are you sure you're gonna be able to do this, I mean, you don't have a clue what the hell you're doing."

"I realize that, and that's what I told him, but he said that I would learn and he told me everything that I needed to know to start out. It doesn't sound that bad. I think I can manage. One thing though, I think it will be best, in order to not get caught, for me to sell out of our apartment…as long as that's ok with you?" Chandler asked, looking over at Joey.

"Well, technically it's your apartment, so I don't see how I can stop you really. It's cool though, I don't mind. Just please be careful. I don't want you to go to jail for some drugs Chandler." Joey replied.

"I know man, I will, that's why I think this is the safest bet to do it here. That way I'm not out on the street doing it, ya know what I mean?"

"Yeah, alright." Joey sighed. "_Wow_, I can't believe that you are actually doing this man. I didn't think that you had it in you. Of _all things_, dealing drugs is the last thing I ever thought of you doing."

"Yeah, I know it's crazy, but why not, I'm 21, I'm entitled to be a little crazy sometimes right?" Chandler said.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a little bit later that afternoon when Chandler finally got his first phone call. He had kept the phone right by his side while he watched TV, and he would occasionally look at it to make sure he hadn't missed a call…it was really nerve-racking.

"Hello."

"Hey, what's up? Dante gave me your number."

"Alright, yeah, you can just come by my apartment." Chandler responded.

"Alright."

Chandler gave the guy directions and then sat back to wait for his first customer. He was a little nervous and hoped he didn't fuck this up. He didn't even know how much the guy wanted, but he also thought it best not to discuss business over the phone…a little tip from Dante.

About 10 minutes later he heard a knock at the door and he went over to answer it. He opened it up and was surprised to see a familiar face on the other side.

"Ross?" He said kinda shocked at who he was seeing.

"Chandler? What the hell are you doing man, what's up?"

"Not much man, go ahead and come in."

"Oh right, yeah." Ross was suddenly nervous he didn't expect the drug dealer to be one of his former friends.

"So what's up, you smoke weed now?" Chandler asked.

"Uh, yeah, I mean you and me did it a few times back in high school and I don't know, I met some friends in college and they all do it, so I started doing it regularly." Ross responded.

"Wow, I never took you for much of a pot smoker man. That's cool though, I can be your weed man now." Chandler laughed.

Ross laughed as well, "Yeah I guess you're right."

"So how much did you wanna get?"

"Well that depends, how much do you charge for a quarter?" Ross asked.

"Usually $50, but since you're a friend I'll give it to you for $45…this time at least, if you become a regular I might give it to you for a little less." Chandler was surprised with himself, he actually sounded like he knew what he was doing, even though he didn't have a clue.

"Alright that's cool, I can handle that. I do have a question though." He said while watching Chandler weight out his weed, and get it ready for him.

"What's that?"

"Well, I mean, how the hell did you get into drug dealing? It seems like we're both surprising each other tonight, cause I never saw this coming."

"Yeah, I know right, to tell you the truth I actually just started doing this today. I needed to make some cash, and I met Dante in a club last night, and yeah… the rest is history I guess." Chandler said.

"Ah I see."

Chandler put his quarter in the bag and handed it over. Ross paid him the cash and then Chandler stood up shoving it in his pocket.

"So, I mean, do you smoke or what?" Ross asked standing up as well.

"Nah, just selling it."

"Oh I see, well that's too bad, I was gonna smoke you out since you hooked me up and all."

"Eh, it's cool man, maybe some other time. I don't wanna get high and then have someone need something and not know what I'm doing, ya know. I need the business." Chandler replied jokingly.

"Alright then, well I'll definitely be calling you when I need to get some more, so you already got one customer." Ross said smiling.

Chandler laughed. "Alright, cool."

"Well I guess I'm gonna go, I'll see ya later man." Ross walked over to the door with Chandler following him.

"Alright, enjoy that." Chandler said smiling.

"Oh I most definitely will. Later." Ross said walking out of the apartment.

"Later." Chandler shut the door and walked back over to the couch. He was a little relieved that his first customer had been Ross, now he wasn't as nervous to sell to the next person that called him. He also figured that at the rate he was going he could make a pretty good bit of money this time. I mean he still had 3 quarters left and had already made $45. If he could sell another quarter then he'd have all of Dante's money and still have another half to sell. He smiled to himself thinking of how much money he was gonna start making. For the first time he felt like he had _definitely _made the right decision by doing this. His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He answered it and of course it was someone else who wanted weed. 25 minutes later the person and came and left and Chandler sat back on the couch counting his money. The guy wanted a half which Chandler sold to him for 80 bucks, giving him a grand total of $130. He knew that it wasn't much, but that $30 was his and that was better than nothing. He still had a quarter left so he figured by the end of this he should at least have an $80 profit, which wasn't bad for his first time. It was getting late so Chandler got up and started getting ready for bed, hopefully he wouldn't get anymore calls tonight. Just then he heard the door open and turned around to see Joey coming in with one of his many girls.

"Hey man, what are you doing?" Joey said noticing the weed and scale sitting out on the couch beside Chandler.

"Oh, just taking care of some business."

"Oh, well I guess we can talk about it in the morning, I got company tonight." He gestured towards the girl he was with.

"Alright yeah that's fine. I was getting ready to go to bed anyway. Goodnight." He gathered all of his shit and headed towards his bedroom, with Joey sleeping on the couch that meant he entertained his lady friends out there too. He shut his bedroom door and got changed for bed. He lay down and stared at the ceiling he was happy that his first "official" day as a drug dealer went ok, as funny as that sounded. I mean, him a drug dealer, even Ross was surprised. Oh well though, he would make sure all that changed soon enough. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep so that he could quickly get back to making money.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day Chandler was able to get rid of the other quarter that he had left and in total had made the $180 that he had expected to make. He had to be at work in an hour, but he wanted to stop by Dante's first to pay him back and see what he thought about him selling all the shit already. He called Dante first and was told to come by the club again. He walked through the double door and immediately saw Dante over by the bar talking to some girl.

"Hey Dante, what's up?"

"Hey Chandler, what's up, I know you didn't sell all that already."

"Actually…I did. I just sold the rest of it this morning." Chandler replied smiling.

"Wow, I have to say I'm impressed. Let's go into my office and we can discuss this further."

They walked back to his office and sat down. Chandler immediately pulled out Dante's hundred and handed it over.

"So how much did you end up making for yourself?" Dante asked taking the money from Chandler and counting it to make sure it was all there.

"$80."

"That's not bad for your first time. Well… you've definitely proven to me that I can trust you and that you can do this. So if you want we'll keep doing this. I'm going to keep you selling just weed for right now, but maybe later when you get this part down, and if you want to that is, I can move you on to selling other things."

"Alright that sounds good." Chandler said.

He left the club with a quarter ounce of marijuana this time. It was so much that Dante had to give him a backpack to carry it in. He was a little nervous about being in possession of that much weed, but then he thought about how much money he could get from this, and that eased his mind a little. He ended up having to go back to his apartment to drop off his stash before work. He didn't even want to even go back to the diner anymore to tell you the truth; I mean he _was_ only a cook. He also didn't want to get ahead of himself yet though he had only made $80 so far, which was definitely not enough for him to live off of. He walked into his apartment glancing at the clock to see that he only had 15 minutes to get to work. He quickly put the backpack in his bedroom and headed off to work.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was about a week later when Chandler finally sold the last of his weed. He honestly wasn't expecting to sell it that quick, but he ended up getting so many phone calls that it was pretty easy. In total he had ended up with $800, and Dante had only charged him $350, so that left him with $450. He was so excited that he had chosen to do this and he couldn't wait until he proved his point to Joey. Now he was on his way to go pay Dante and re-up and then he was planning on going straight back to his apartment and just hoped that Joey was there when he returned.

He walked through the door of his apartment about an hour later, and was glad to see Joey sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey man, what's with the backpack?" Joey asked, glancing away from the TV for only a second.

"Hey. It's what I use to carry my shit in, every time I go he gives me more and more and I can't exactly walk down the street carrying it."

"Oh, so I see your still doing that huh?" Joey hadn't seen Chandler in a few days, so he didn't know how well Chandler's business was going for him.

"Hell yeah, I'd be crazy not too. I just made $450 in a week. It would take me like 3 weeks at the dinner to make that. Just imagine Joe if I keep doing this…I'm gonna have some money. Still don't wanna join me?" Chandler asked him.

"No, I still think that you're going to end up changing your mind. You can't do this forever man. Yeah that's a hell of a lot of money for just a week, but I just can't see myself doing that…I just can't."

"Alright dude, it's cool. I'm not going to change my mind though, not now, not after how much money I've made already." Chandler walked into his bedroom and put his backpack in his closet. He kept it hidden in there just incase. He couldn't risk anything happening to his shit… that was just too much money to risk. He walked back into the living room and grabbed a beer before joining Joey on the couch.

"I swear I don't understand you sometimes man." Joey said shaking his head.

Chandler laughed. "Why do you always say that? I mean shit I've been doing pretty damn good this past week and a half with this. I love it too; I mean at the rate I'm going I can have at least a grand in a couple of weeks. Then after that, I should have plenty of money. I can't believe you don't want do this with me, I mean we could do just this and be set. Seriously if it keeps going this good and I get enough cash saved up you best believe I'm quitting at the diner. I hate that job anyway, but I love this one."

"Well I'm glad that you like it so much, just please be careful, I know I've said it before, but it just worries me is all."

"Don't worry man, I got it under control. I don't wanna get caught anymore than you want me to get caught."

Just then Chandler's phone started to go off, he reached into his pocket and grabbed it seeing Ross' name flash across the screen. He knew he'd be calling him again.

"Hello" Chandler said.

"Hey man, can I come by?" Ross asked.

"Yeah no problem, I'm just chillin with my roommate."

"Alright I'll be over in about ten."

"Alright later."

"Bye."

Chandler closed his cell and shoved it back into his jeans pocket.

"That was Ross; I was practically best friends with him back in high school and he ended up coming over to buy weed from me the other night. I didn't even know he smoked it regularly. Me and him smoked it a little in high school, but nothing major."

"So now you're his weed guy huh, small world." Joey replied.

"Yeah I know right, I was as shocked to see him as he was to see me. You'll like him though he's pretty cool guy."

They continued watching TV and talking until the heard a knock on the door. Chandler got up and answered it, seeing Ross on the other side as expected. He opened the door wider to let Ross come in.

"Hey Ross, this is my roommate Joey."

"Hey, how ya doing?" Ross reached out to shake Joey's hand.

"Hey, pretty good, you?"

"Good, good." Ross replied.

"Alright man so how much did you need tonight?" Chandler asked.

"Uh, I think I'm gonna do a half this time, are you still gonna hook me up on the price though, cause I'm kinda short on cash?"

"Yeah no problem, just don't tell anyone else I'm hooking you up, I still gotta make money ya know."

"Yeah, gotcha." Ross sat on the couch as Chandler walked into his bedroom to get the weed. He came back out a few minutes later with it weighed out and already in a bag.

"Here ya go." Chandler said.

"Thanks man. So look I wanted to ask you too, me and some of my friends are having a party this weekend, and I wanted to see if you wanted to come over. Joey you can come too if you want." Ross asked them.

"Yeah, that sounds good, maybe I got get some business there." Chandler said, he was becoming a little obsessed with making money, but he didn't care. He knew he could sell a lot of weed at a fucking college party.

"Yeah, I'll come too, it's been awhile since I've went to a party, not being in college and all." Joey responded as well.

"Alright cool." He gave them the directions to the party and then left. Chandler and Joey were both pretty excited. Like Joey had said they didn't really get the chance to go to any parties since neither of them had decided to go to college. Hopefully they could possibly meet some new people and have a good time.


End file.
